Chapter 11: Design Ecoregional Portfolio

Standard 11: Design ecoregional portfolios/biodiversity visions to best meet goals for all conservation targets/ biodiversity elements, using the principles of efficiency, representation, irreplaceability, and functionality. [PLAN]

Rationale
Ad-hoc conservation is blind investment and lacks context. A comprehensive vision (portfolio) should identify a suite of places that contains occurrences of biodiversity targets/elements that are necessary to conserve biodiversity representative of an ecoregion. This vision/portfolio should ensure that the relative contributions of an investment strategy are understood in a regional context. Conservation assessments need to be current to define the present arenas for actions in a comprehensive yet efficient way to inform our actions and those of partners and stakeholders given the changing landscape of biodiversity patterns, threats, and conservation opportunities. In addition, visions/portfolios are the framework for measuring conservation progress within an ecoregion.

Assessment of the conservation management status of lands and waters (e.g. IUCN protected/managed area categories, management strategies such as fire and sustainable water management, invasive species control, etc.).

Approaches and tools used to generate vision/portfolio (e.g. expert workshops, optimization tools such as SITES, SPOT, MARXAN, EPAT) and rationales.

For cases where optimization tools have been used, clear descriptions and rationale for inputs and values such as cost surfaces.

Shape files and maps of areas of biodiversity significance and patterns of threats. Include alternative risk and updated scenarios where available.